Let’s talk about one of the most important aspects of your car’s setup: ride height.
Ride height is exactly what it sounds like — the distance between the ground and the bottom of your chassis.
Why Ride Height Matters
Ride height is the foundation that you build your setup on.
On my RC Dirt Oval Setup Basics page, I explained that when you’re building a setup, a significant portion of what you’re doing is managing how weight transfers from one part of the car to another during the race.
Ride height is the foundation you build your setup on.
Well ride height will affect every aspect of how weight transfers in your car — and that influences how the car responds in every phase of the corner. That’s why it’s critical to get this measurement right.
The good news is that ride height is easy to understand, and even easier to adjust.
Ride Height Is a Decision, Not an Adjustment
You don’t want to get into the habit of changing ride height to fix problems.
Ride height should be a deliberate decision, chosen for the track conditions — not a reaction to what the car is doing.
That one idea can completely change how you approach setup work.
Ride height should never be a reaction to how the car feels in a single corner or moment.
It’s a choice you make by reading the track:
- Is it smooth or bumpy?
- Grippy or slick?
Once you’ve chosen a ride height, that height becomes your foundation.
From there, every adjustment you make — springs, camber, toe, etc — is built around that ride height.
And any time you change something on the car, you want to reset and confirm the ride height so it always stays at the original height.
Every time you change something on the car, you need to reset the ride height so it always stays at the original height.
If you’re constantly raising or lowering the car to chase loose or tight handling, you’re not really solving the problem — you’re just moving it to a different area of the car.
To put it very simply:
Ride height isn’t an adjustment.
It’s a starting point.
What Ride Height Controls
The simplest way to think about ride height is this:
- Ride height determines how much room the suspension has to work.
That determination is critical because suspension movement is what allows weight to transfer around the car.
The overall concept is very simple – the higher the chassis is off the ground, the more room the suspension has to move.
As a result:
- A higher ride height allows for more weight transfer
- A lower ride height allows for less weight transfer
A car that’s slammed to the ground simply can’t move weight very far — it runs out of suspension travel quickly.
A taller car with more suspension travel can move weight much more freely.
That’s why ride height has to match the track.
Think about a very low car — like an F1 car — going over a bumpy surface.
There isn’t enough suspension travel to absorb the bumps, so the car is going to bounce all over and lose traction.
That’s why lower ride heights are better suited for smooth tracks.
Now think about a car with a very high ride height charging into a smooth corner with a lot of grip.
There’s a large amount of weight transfer, and that can make the car feel slower to respond and – in some cases – give the car so much grip that it ends up traction rolling.
That’s why higher ride height is usually better for bumpy or rough tracks, where you need the suspension to absorb surface changes.
Once you’ve decided on a ride height, every setup change you make assumes that original ride height hasn’t changed.
It doesn’t matter what adjustment you make – springs, shocks, camber – they all work within the space that ride height creates.
Change that space, and everything else has to change with it.
How to measure ride height
Now that you know the role that ride height plays in your car’s setup, let’s talk about how you measure the ride height on your car.
Process Overview
- Get your car 100% race ready
- Position the car on a flat surface
- Measure the front and rear height
- Record the results in your race notebook
1. Start With the Car Ready to Go on the Track
Before you measure anything, you need to make sure the car is exactly as it will be on the track.
That means:
- The battery is installed
- The body is fully mounted
- The tires are on and tightened properly
- The transponder - and anything else you plan to race with - is installed
In other words, if the car isn’t 100% ready to be put on the track and raced, you aren’t ready to measure.
Ride height is affected by weight. If you leave something off your car that you plan to race with, your measurements won’t reflect the reality on the race track.
And if your measurements aren’t accurate the setup decisions you make based on them won’t be either – that will make it much more difficult for you to get the car to drive the way you want.
2. Position the Car on a Flat Surface
In an ideal world, you want to measure your ride height on a proper setup board. However, if you don’t have one, use the flattest, most predictable surface you have available – a sturdy table, a countertop, etc.
If possible, you’ll want to do all of your measurements in the same place so that you get consistent results.
When you move on to Step 3, make sure you have a quality ride height gauge like this one.
Quality tools will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run.
Once you have found where you want to do your measurement:
- Hold the car roughly 24-36 inches above the board
- Drop it straight down onto the setup board
- Allow the suspension to settle on its own
This helps overcome any resistance in the suspension, so the car can settle naturally.
There’s no need to slam the car or push the suspension down – just let gravity do the work for you.
What we’re aiming for here is a consistent, repeatable measurement that reflects real race conditions.
3. Take the Measurement
To start, loosen the screw on your ride height gauge so that it can move freely. After you’ve done that, slide the gauge under the car.
You need to take two measurements:
- One at the front of the car
- One at the rear of the car
In both cases, take the measurement from a flat, repeatable spot on the chassis – somewhere with a reference point that will make it easy to find the same point over and over again.
Consistency matters more than perfection.
It doesn’t matter exactly where you measure on the chassis — as long as you always measure in the same place.
The exact location you use doesn’t matter nearly as much here as being able to find the same spot every time.
For example, good reference points might be:
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- Directly under the servo at the front
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- Directly under the motor or differential at the rear
Pick your spots, stick with them, and then don’t change them unless you have a specific reason to.
Once you’ve identified a good spot, position the gauge and allow the lever to raise up until it gently touches the chassis.
Do not push the lever up – pushing the lever up will give you an inaccurate measurement.
With the gauge still touching the chassis, tighten the screw and gently slide it out from under the car.
At that point you should be able to easily see the result of your measurement.
With the gauge still touching the chassis, tighten the screw and gently slide it out from under the car.
At that point you should be able to easily see the result of your measurement.
When you are measuring ride height there is one rule you have to keep in mind:
- The gauge is allowed to move. The car is not.
If the chassis moves when the lever touches it, you need to reset the chassis and start over again.
4. Write Down Your Measurement
You’ve probably heard race teams talk about having “a notebook.” This is where you are going to start yours.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy – just something you can dedicate to racing and keep with your pit equipment.
Once you have your notebook write down:
- Front ride height
- Rear ride height
- Date
- Name of track
Measuring At Home
If this is your first time measuring ride height, you are probably taking this measurement at home rather than the track.
That’s perfectly fine — just make sure you bring the notebook with you on race day.
At the track, add a few quick notes about conditions:
- Is the surface bumpy or smooth?
- Grippy or loose?
- Plenty of moisture, or drying out?
- Hot or cold weather?
Then, after the race is over, write down how the car felt that night.
If you are consistent about writing down this information every time you race it will give you some priceless information. Over time, you will start to see patterns emerge about how the car behaves in certain conditions.
It will also give you a reference point for when you go to a track you haven’t been to in a while.
In that case, you can go back to your notes and make sure you arrive on race day with a solid base setup.
How to adjust ride height
The ride height on your car is determined by how much spring preload you have.
Spring preload is how much your springs are compressed when your car is sitting stationary.
When it’s time to set your ride height, all you have to do is adjust the amount of spring preload:
- If your springs become more compressed, it raises your car up
- If your springs become less compressed, it lowers your car down
That’s all there is to it.
Two Ways to Adjust Ride Height
How you adjust the amount your springs are preloaded will depend on which of the two shock styles you have on your car:
- Adjustable shock collars or
- Preload spacer shocks
Adjustable Shock Collars
If your shocks use adjustable collars, you can adjust the the ride height by turning the collar to move it up or down the shock body.
Here’s a step by step look at how that works when you are setting your height:
1. Get Close First
Start by turning the collars and paying attention to which direction compresses the spring and which direction releases it.
Once you’ve got a feel for that:
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- Place the car on the setup board
- Slide the ride height gauge under the car
- Take a quick measurement to see where you’re starting
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From there, make the adjustments you think will get you close to your target ride height.
Don’t worry about hitting the exact number yet.
The goal of this step is simply to get the car in the ballpark.
2. Make Small Adjustments to Hit Your Number
Adjust the collars one full turn at a time, making sure to adjust both left and right springs equally.
If you don’t, the car will be unbalanced.
After each turn, take another measurement from the exact same place.
Then repeat the process until you hit the exact ride height you are looking for.
Once you get one end exactly where you want it, move to the other end of the car and get it set where you want.
3. Double Check Your Measurements
Once you have finished setting the ride height in both the front and the rear, go back and do a quick re-measurement.
When you adjust the front ride height, sometimes it can affect the rear height and vice versa. So you want to make sure everything is right where you want it before you move on.
Pre-Load Spacer Shocks
If you have preload spacer shocks – these are common on most Traxxas models – the adjustment process is almost identical.
There is just one difference.
Instead of turning a shock collar to compress the springs, you are going to add or remove spacers at the top of the shocks, above the spring.
The process will look like this (for both the front and the rear):
- Measure the starting ride height
- Add or remove a spacer from both the left and right springs
- Measure again
- Repeat until you hit the number you are looking for
That’s all there is to it.
How to Choose Your Starting Ride Height
If you’ve never raced before, how do you decide what ride height to start with?
The best way to approach this is also the simplest – ask the other drivers who run the same class at your track what they are running and start there.
There is usually a pretty narrow range of ride heights that will work at each track. If you just follow what the other guys are doing you should be set.
After that you will only want to change your ride height if you have a specific reason to do so.
Remember, ride height is a setting – not an adjustment.
Putting It All Together
Ride height isn’t something you are going to change frequently to try to improve your car’s handling.
It’s a foundation you choose for your car to match the track — your car’s setup is then built on that foundation
The main things to keep in mind when it comes to ride height are:
- Choose your ride height deliberately
- Measure it consistently
- Every time you make an adjustment on your car, go back and reset your ride height
- Keep notes on your experience with different ride heights at different tracks
- Only adjust ride height if you have a specific reason
Remember – Ride height isn’t an adjustment.
It’s the starting point everything else depends on.